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Union backers target Starbucks with new-media campaign

Posted Mon, 06/01/2009 - 4:35pm by x344543

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. The image pictured to the right did not appear in the original article, we have added it here to provide a visual perspective. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

Critics use a website and social media to portray the coffee giant as anti-union. The company denies being a bad employer.

By Patrick McDonnell - Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2009

Starbucks a hub of union-busting and worker exploitation?

Say it ain't so, Howard Schultz!

The Starbucks chief executive, who actively cultivates a socially progressive image, is in the cross hairs of a new-media campaign designed to bolster union representation at the retail giant and beyond. For five years, Starbucks has been the target of a limited but sometimes nasty unionization drive that has tarnished its reputation for high-minded benevolence.

But last week, Brave New Films in Culver City launched an ambitious "Stop Starbucks" offensive, including a website (stopstarbucks.com) featuring a four-minute video that was also posted on YouTube assailing Starbucks' treatment of workers, along with a petition demanding that Schultz "quit following Wal-Mart's anti-union example." By week's end, almost 12,000 had signed the petition, while nearly 40,000 had viewed the video, organizers said.

The anti-Starbucks onslaught also featured an attempted Twitter "hijacking" designed to undermine a Starbucks promotion in which contestants vied for prizes by submitting photos of themselves at Starbucks cafes. The virtual saboteurs forwarded the required "Twitpics" but hoisted signs blaring seditious mottos such as "I want a union with my latte" or Schultz "makes millions, workers make beans."

Statement of the Starbucks Workers Union on its Fifth Anniversary

Posted Sat, 05/23/2009 - 2:31pm by x344543
May 17, 2009 marks five years since baristas at a Starbucks in New York City announced their membership in the Industrial Workers of the World and launched a campaign open to employees throughout the company.  A worker-led organizing effort with the legendary IWW at the world's largest coffee chain could have been a flash in the pan? brilliant and inspiring, but brief.  But a fire was lit and a movement began. The idea that Starbucks workers could organize themselves and speak in their own voice, independent of company executives and union bureaucrats, could not be restrained.

The bosses did their best to defeat us, to bury any indication of our existence under a heap of lies and retaliatory firings. They tried to stamp us out, even as the campaign for secure jobs and a living wage burst from New York into Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and beyond.

While Starbucks used the economic crisis as a pretext for an all-out assault on our already meager standard of living, our struggle gained momentum this year amidst a stark decline of the company's brand and widespread store closures.  Baristas around the country and around the world made the decision to organize and fight back against severe cuts in work hours, chronic under staffing, and a new "Optimal Scheduling" program which forces many workers to be available to Starbucks for over 80 hours a week without being guaranteed a single work hour.

This journey has been full of set-backs and tests of will.  Progress has been made yet much remains to be done.  But one thing is certain: our voice for dignity is firmly planted and our union?s future is bright.

Workers Form First Union at Starbucks in Latin America

Posted Wed, 05/06/2009 - 1:07pm by x344543
For Immediate Release:
IWW Starbucks Workers Union, StarbucksUnion.org

Workers Form First Union at Starbucks in Latin America

The SWU Applauds the Efforts of Baristas in Chile and Pledges Close Cooperation

New York, NY (05/05/2009)- The IWW Starbucks Workers Union has enthusiastically welcomed the first union of Starbucks workers in Latin America and has pledged support for the new endeavor.  Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors in Chile have organized for respect on the job, a dependable work schedule, and a living wage, among other issues.  Supporters of the new union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks Coffee Chile S.A., can learn more and lend support on their website http://sindicatosbux.blogspot.com/.

"Around the world, Starbucks jobs must work for hard-working baristas, not just senior executives," said Chrissy Cogswell, a Starbucks employee in Chicago and a member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.  "The Chilean baristas have created a voice at work to make sure their contribution to the company is respected."

Missteps by management at Starbucks including over expansion and lack of value on the menu have resulted in serious hardships for baristas.  Starbucks workers are facing mass layoffs and employees who manage to avoid losing their jobs are seeing their hours drastically cut.

Founded in 2004, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union  is an organization of over 300 current and former baristas, bussers, and shift supervisors united for a secure work schedule and an independent voice on the job.  Through direct action, public education, and legal advocacy, the SWU organizes for a Starbucks which rewards the hard work of employees with respect and dignity.  The union has made important systemic improvements at the company and has successfully defended baristas that have been treated unfairly.

The Industrial Workers of the World is a member-operated global labor union open to all working people.

Back to the Future: Starbucks vs. the Wobblies

Posted Wed, 05/06/2009 - 1:04pm by x344543

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. The image pictured below and to the right did not appear in the original article, we have added it here to provide a visual perspective. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

By Damon Agnos - Seattle Weekly, Monday, May. 4 2009

The National Labor Relations Board laid the smack down on the wrist of Starbucks last week, siding with union organizers in finding that the coffee giant engaged in unfair labor practices at eight Minneapolis-area stores. The union said that Starbucks kicked visiting organizers out of their stores and told them they couldn't talk about the union, and also retaliated via disciplinary measures against employees who tried to organize.

The NLRB proposed a settlement, which Starbucks can accept or decline and then face a formal complaint before an administrative law judge. But the real kick is the employees' union. When I heard Starbucks employees were organizing, I automatically thought it would be under the umbrella of the SEIU, the fast-growing, aggressive, powerful union of service industry employees (local branches of which recently protested in front of the First Hill Bank of America).

Instead, though, the Starbucks Workers Union is organized under the Industrial Workers of the World (aka the Wobblies), the international union that was a powerhouse in the early 20th century, opposing World War I, calling general strikes, and facing violent repression from business groups and government. (A particularly notable episode occurred in Centralia.) Those who keep close tabs on labor (or coffee) news probably know that the IWW has been organizing in Starbucks and elsewhere, but for the casual observer, it's a trip to see their name in the news.

Yet Another Federal Labor Complaint Against Starbucks, Emblematic of a Company in Decline

Posted Fri, 05/01/2009 - 10:33pm by x344543
17-count Charge Latest in a String of Setbacks for Brand

Minneapolis -- The Starbucks Workers Union announced today that the National Labor Relations Board has found merit with 17 counts of labor rights violations at Starbucks in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The fresh charges come on the heels of a "guilty" verdict in New York Federal Court on nearly 30 similar charges last December. Once seen as a paragon of social responsibility and entrepreneurial innovation, the coffee giant's image has recently been tarnished with mounting evidence of rampant labor violations, on top of sliding profits, increased market competition, and declining consumer demand.

Mall of America Starbucks barista Erik Forman commented, "Since the recession began, Starbucks has been slashing benefits, laying off workers, reducing hours, and increasing the workload on Baristas in a quixotic effort to maintain boom-era profitability. As our standard of living comes under attack, the need for a union has never been greater. Starbucks must respect our right to association."